As the deputy assistant chief of staff G1 of the 2nd Force Service Support Group (FSSG) - which was re-designated as the Marine Logistics Command for the major combat phase of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) - Major Mark Schroeder deployed to Kuwait in January 2003 and helped provide operational-level logistics to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. This included offloading Maritime Pre-positioned Forces ships and "basically creating the iron mountain getting ready to support I MEF forces as they readied for the push north into Iraq." Based at Camp Fox, "My specific responsibilities," Schroeder said, "entailed supervising daily accountability, personnel casualty reporting and reception of individual augments." During his second OIF tour, from September 2004 to May 2005 - during which he spent much of his time at Camp Taqaddam in Iraq proper - Schroeder served as the assistant chief of staff G1 for 2nd FSSG (Forward) and this time helped provide tactical-level logistics to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited